Dan & Annie's
Summer Adventure 2006

August 22^nd, 2006:

We finally made it to Colorado. Not too “colorful” in the photo here,

but that will soon change.

We’ve been wanting to do an overnight trip into the wilderness all summer,

but haven’t been able to because dogs are not allowed on hiking trails in

any of the National Parks. We stopped into a Forest Service office, and

they suggested a hike up to Crater Lake, on the Continental Divide, just

outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. Here are the photos.

Starting elevation was 8,300 feet. It was fairly flat for the first couple of miles.

We followed this stream the entire way, crossing many times.

There were waterfalls like this through much of the hike:

Somewhere up there is Crater Lake:

Not only was this climb higher than anything we’d done before, but we were carrying 40lb. packs as well. We needed lots of stops.

Almost there:

We made it!

8 ½ miles in, with 2,300 feet of elevation gain, we are camped at 10,600 feet:

We are the only ones up here, we have the entire place to ourselves. These are the views from our camp:

Overnight, we had our bear spray (a giant can of pepper spray like a small fire extinguisher) in the tent, and we hung a bear bag with all our food

and drinks from a tree over the lake. The only sounds during the night though were those of the waterfall across the lake, and an occasional rock

slide somewhere in the mountains around us.

In the morning, the temperature was just above freezing, but warmed quickly with the sun.

Here we are dressed and ready for the hike out:

It was a beautiful trip. Tough though, mainly due to the elevation and

our pack weight, and in the end we are very sore, and very thirsty,

but glad we did it.

That’s all for now,

Dan & Annie

August 22^nd, 2006

What do you see when you wake up in the morning?